Print Email Facebook Twitter Massively parallel fabrication of crack-defined gold break junctions featuring sub-3 nm gaps for molecular devices Title Massively parallel fabrication of crack-defined gold break junctions featuring sub-3 nm gaps for molecular devices Author Dubois, Valentin (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) Raja, Shyamprasad N. (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) Gehring, P. (TU Delft QN/van der Zant Lab; Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft) Caneva, S. (TU Delft QN/van der Zant Lab; Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft) van der Zant, H.S.J. (TU Delft QN/van der Zant Lab; Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft) Niklaus, Frank (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) Stemme, Göran (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) Date 2018 Abstract Break junctions provide tip-shaped contact electrodes that are fundamental components of nano and molecular electronics. However, the fabrication of break junctions remains notoriously time-consuming and difficult to parallelize. Here we demonstrate true parallel fabrication of gold break junctions featuring sub-3 nm gaps on the wafer-scale, by relying on a novel self-breaking mechanism based on controlled crack formation in notched bridge structures. We achieve fabrication densities as high as 7 million junctions per cm2, with fabrication yields of around 7% for obtaining crack-defined break junctions with sub-3 nm gaps of fixed gap width that exhibit electron tunneling. We also form molecular junctions using dithiol-terminated oligo(phenylene ethynylene) (OPE3) to demonstrate the feasibility of our approach for electrical probing of molecules down to liquid helium temperatures. Our technology opens a whole new range of experimental opportunities for nano and molecular electronics applications, by enabling very large-scale fabrication of solid-state break junctions. To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:738a6484-07c3-4fcd-9864-9a94996f5607 DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05785-2 ISSN 2041-1723 Source Nature Communications, 9 (1) Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2018 Valentin Dubois, Shyamprasad N. Raja, P. Gehring, S. Caneva, H.S.J. van der Zant, Frank Niklaus, Göran Stemme Files PDF s41467_018_05785_2.pdf 2.26 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:738a6484-07c3-4fcd-9864-9a94996f5607/datastream/OBJ/view